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Santa Barbara

With production beginning this month, Michael Caruso's "Winterthorne" has added "One Life to Live" alum John-Paul Lavoisier to its cast. The soap star will portray the role of Hugh Cambridge, a handsome and mysterious man, who shares a past with Miranda Winterthorne, portrayed by "Days of our Lives" alum, Martha Madison. The character is said to be hell bent on becoming a member of the Winterthorne family and will go about any means necessary, including seducing Miranda, to get what he wants.

This is going to be awesome! "General Hospital's" Kirsten Storms (Maxie Jones) is joining the cast of "Winterthorne," which stars "Days of our Lives" alum Martha Madison, who like Storms before her, portrayed Belle Black on NBC's "Days of our Lives." Storms is set to play Selene Winterthorne, the younger sister of Miranda (Madison), who returns after being absent for many years with an offer to change the candy company empire forever.

Thursday, December 4 at 3:00 PM, ET/12:00 PM, PT, marks the beginning of Chapter 13 of "The Bay: The Series," the much beloved web series created by Gregori J. Martin. With episodes set to run 20-22 minutes each all throughout the month of December, fans will be able to follow the drama online and through social media using the hashtags #Bayhem and #DecemberBayhem, in addition to the #TheBay. Following the conclusion of Chapter 13, Chapter 14 will debut in mid December.

"The Bay: The Series," the much beloved web series created by Gregori J. Martin, will welcome former "Santa Barbara" stars A. Martinez (ex-Cruz Castillo) and Judith McConnell (ex-Sophia Capwell) to its cast during Chapter 14 of the series, which premieres in mid December on ROKU via BLIP.TV and the show's official website, thebaytheseries.com. With their joining, Martinez and McConnell reunite with former "Santa Barbara" co-stars Lane Davies and Nicolas Coster.

CBS' "The Young and the Restless" is getting a new head writer in the form of Charles 'Chuck' Pratt, Jr., who is best known for his writing stints at "All My Children," "General Hospital" and "Santa Barbara." The news was first reported by Highlight Hollywood. Thanks to the power of social media, Pratt has already updated his Twitter profile to reflect his writing duties at "Y&R" while also indicating he will receive an executive producer credit.

Although the network and Sony Pictures Television, producers of the series, have yet to issue comment on the matter, Daytime Confidential is reporting that Pratt will lead the writing team of daytime's number one drama series beginning in November.

Last week "General Hospital" executive producer Frank Valentini revealed that there will be plenty of villains hanging around the denizens of Port Charles this fall and he wasn't kidding. While a show rep issued a "no comment" when contacted by Soap Opera Network, actress Robin Mattson announced on her Facebook page yesterday that she is returning to the daytime soap as Heather Webber in the near future. "Heather is returning to GH soon!" read Mattson's Facebook posting. Fans last saw Heather in February, when she was carted off to jail.

If you’re ready for more secrets, scandals, passion and romance than ever before, you’re in luck: The Emmy-nominated online soap opera “The Bay” is returning with an all-new Chapter 12 that promises to deliver sudser standards with a serious bang! What’s more, the cast has already begun new installments of the ever-popular pre-launch “Confessions of Bay City,” in which Bay City’s biggest and baddest take the hot seat for jaw-dropping confessions!

They say fast-paced soap operas are good training grounds for primetime gigs, and that must be the case, considering several former soap stars have garnered Primetime Emmy nods this year! In light of the official announcement of the 65th Annual Primetime Emmy Award nominees, Soap Opera Network brings you the who, what and where of stars who've given sudsers a go.

When "All My Children" and "One Life to Live" debut with brand new episodes on Monday, April 29 on Hulu, Hulu Plus and iTunes, they will have the full support of CBS Daytime. Angelica McDaniel, Senior Vice President, CBS Daytime, wishes Rich Frank and Jeff Kwatinetz, whose Prospect Park licensed the two soaps from ABC in 2011, nothing but the best. She relays via Soap Opera Network, "Congratulations and best of luck on the success. Your success is our success and vice versa. And it’s just a thrilling new experience and I look forward to seeing where the journey takes you."

With Prospect Park now signing agreements with key unions SAG-AFTRA (actors), the DGA (directors), and the WGA (writers), with an expectation to begin filming episodes of "All My Children" as soon as next month, we wondered who you wanted to see act on the soap when it moves to the web. Your choices can include past actors as well as wishful casting (recast and new characters are welcomed). We also wondered who you want to join the writing team now that thousands of writers are at Prospect Park's disposal courtesy of their agreement with the WGA, as well as who you want to direct episodes of the series. Keep in mind that Agnes Nixon, who created both "AMC" and "One Life to Live," is currently working as a consultant for Prospect Park, according to Foz McDermott, head of production for TOLN (Prospect Park's The Online Network). Also note that actors Jordi Vilasuso (Dr. Griffin Castillo), Darnell Williams (Jesse Hubbard), Debbi Morgan (Dr. Angela Hubbard), Vincent Irizarry (Dr. David Hayward) and Lindsay Hartley (Dr. Cara Castillo) are all confirmed as signing on to return to "AMC" when it moves to the web. Alicia Minshew (ex-Kendall Hart) has reported that she's been approached, while Cameron Mathison (ex-Ryan Lavery) hope's he can be involved. There's no word yet on the status of Susan Lucci (ex-Erica Kane), who was the only original cast member from the first season of “AMC” that had remained with the show without interruption from its debut on January 5, 1970 through its final ABC broadcast on September 23, 2011.

Renee Jones has made one of the most daring decisions of her life. The "Days of our Lives" actress has decided to quit acting and leave the NBC daytime soap after a 20-year career that has spawned one of the longest and most successful pairings in daytime with her character Lexie Carver and James Reynolds' Abe Carver.

On Thursday, October 20, it was announced that longtime "General Hospital" writer Michele Val Jean would be joining the Emmy Award winning writing team of CBS' "The Bold and the Beautiful." Also on that day Val Jean was given the opportunity of visiting the set of the soap while they were filming so she could get a better feel of the characters and the actors.

EXCLUSIVE! Sources have confirmed to Soap Opera Network that "Days of our Lives" has fired Co-Executive Producer Noel Maxam. His replacement will be former "Passions" Executive Producer Lisa De Cazotte.